fl 371 
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University of Texas Bulletin 

No. 2238: October 8, 1922 



A STUDY OF RURAL SCHOOLS IN 
WILLIAMSON COUNTY 



BY 
E. B. DAVIS 

Specialist in Rural Education 
Bureau of Extention 




PUBLISHED BY 

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 



Publications of the University of Texas 

Publications Committee : 



Frederic Duncalf J. L. Henderson 
KiLLis Campbell E. J. Mathews 

F. W. Graff H. J. Muller 

C. G. Haines F. A. C. Perrin 

Hal C. Weaver 



The University publishes bulletins four times a month, 
so numbered that the first two digits of the number show 
the year of issue, the last two the position in the yearly 
series. (For example, No. 2201 is the first bulletin of the 
year 1922.) These comprise the official publications of the 
University, publications on humanistic and scientific sub- 
jects, bulletins prepared by the Bureau of Extension, by the 
Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology, and other bul- 
letins of general educational interest. With the exception 
of special numbers, any bulletin will be sent to a citizen of 
Texas free on request. All communications about Univer- 
sity publications should be addressed to University Publica- 
tions, University of Texas, Austin. 



University of Texas Bulletin 

No. 2238: October 8, 1922 



A STUDY OF RURAL SCHOOLS IN 
WILLIAMSON COUNTY 



BY 

E. E. DAVIS 

Specialist in Rural Education 
Bureau of Extension 




PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY FOUR TIMES A MONTH. AND ENTERED AS 

SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POSTOFFICE AT AUSTIN. TEXAS, 

UNDER THE ACT OF AUGUST 24, 1912 



FOREWORD 

During- the school year of 1921-22 the Bureau of Exten- 
sion of the University conducted rural school surveys in 
Wichita, Karnes, and Williamson counties. During the 
school year of 1922-23 it is the purpose of the Bureau of 
Extension to conduct similar research investigations in 
other Texas counties. In this series of surveys will 
be found a county with millions of oil wealth in it; 
a county from the timber lands of East Texas ; one from 
the Blackland Belt with its educational and sociological com- 
plications arising from high-priced land, the one-crop sys- 
tem, farm tenants and absentee landlords ; one from the 
Western Cross Timbers where loss of rural population has 
brought about a large amount of social stagnation ; one from 
middle west Texas with its thrifty, homogeneous, home- 
o\\Tiing English-speaking populations ; one from the high 
plains where there is much room for expansion and where 
there is a wholesome breadth of vision on the part of most 
of the people ; and one from Southwest Texas, with its cos- 
mopolitan population of Mexicans and other non-English- 
speaking whites. Thus the rural educational conditions ob- 
taining throughout the state will be covered in a fairly 
representative way. 

The object of these studies is twofold: (1) to enable the 
counties in which they are conducted to see where they stand 
educationally, and to assist them in the work of educational 
self-improvement; (2) To obtain a fund of definite, reliable, 
comprehensive information on the rural-life situation in 
Texas to be placed at the disposal of the students and 
teachers of education in this big State. It is hoped that 
these studies may be of material value in enriching the con- 
tent of the courses in rural education now being offered in 
the normal schools and the colleges of Texas. 

The information gathered in the course of these surveys 
has been obtained through personal interviews with teach- 
ers, school patrons, and school trustees ; observation of the 
character of the instruction being done by the teachers in 



6 University of Texas Bulletin 

the classrooms; standardized tests given in silent reading 
and; arithmetic; inspection of school furniture and school 
property; the sending of questionnaires to teachers and 
trustees; the use of such statistical data as could be ob- 
tained from the county departments of education, the offices 
of the county tax assessors and the tax collectors, the State 
Department of Education at Austin, and the reports of the 
U. S. Bureau of the Census, In each county where these 
studies have been made a representative of the Bureau of 
Extension has spent approximately thirty days, in co-opera- 
tion with the County Superintendent of Schools, collecting 
the necessary information. The blanks and forms used in 
the course of these surveys may be found in the appendix 
of this publication. 

T. H. Shelby, 

Director of the Bureau of Extension, 

University of Texas. 



POPULATION AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE 
SCHOOLS OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY 

Williamson County is located in Central Texas and lies, 
for the most part, in the famous Black Land Belt. The soil 
is very fertile. The principal occupation, of the people is 
agriculture. Cotton is the leading field crop, though corn 
and small grains are raised to some extent. 

The county contains no large cities. Georgetown, Gran- 
ger, Jarrell, Taylor, Liberty Hill, Florence, Hutto, and 
Round Rock are the principal towns. The population is 
essentially a rural population. The county contains 1,129 
square miles and has a total population of 42,934 persons, 
or 38 people to the square mile. 

Composition of the Population. There are 11,170 males 
twenty-one years of age and over with ancestral charac- 
teristics as follows : native white parentage, 49.3 per cent ; 
foreign-born white parentage, 18.7 per cent; foreign or 
mixed white parentage. 16.3 per cent; negro, 15.5 per 
cent. Of the total male population twenty-one years of 
age and over, 35 per cent have white parents one or both 
of whom were born in a foreign land. This gives a mixture 
of languages, customs, traditions, and ideals that greatly 
complicate the rural social problems in many communities. 

The nationalities of the foreign-born population of Wil- 
liamson County are as follows : Austrian, 4.6 per cent ; Ca- 
nadian, .4 per cent; Czechoslovakian, 18.5 per cent; Danish, 
1 per cent; English, .9 per cent; French, .3 per cent; Ger- 
man, 15 per cent; Greek, .2 per cent; Hungarian, .2 per 
cent; Irish, .5 per cent; Mexican, 39 per cent; Polish, .5 per 
cent; Russian, .6 per cent; Scotch, .8 per cent; Swedish, 
14.2 per cent; Swiss, 2.4 per cent. 

The Problem of the Foreigner. The two preceding par- 
agraphs indicate the presence of a very considerable for- 
eign population in Williamson County. If these persons of 
foreign birth and their immediate descendants were uni- 
formly distributed throughout the county, it would be no 



8 University of Texas Bulletin 

difficult matter for them to learn the English language and 
adopt American customs. Many of them, however, are con- 
centrated in small colonies. In some of these colonies you 
may find the mother tongue and foreign customs almost as 
strongly entrenched as in the very heart of the Fatherland. 

Free education at general public expense has never been 
very successful in a great many of these foreign communi- 
ties. Some of them have supported the parochial schools 
rather than the free public schools. There are three rural 
parochial schools in the county at present. 

Clannishness, intolerance, exclusiveness, and group 'de- 
marcations are distinctly contrary to Americanism. Amer- 



NATIVE-BORN WHITE PARENTAGE 

^^^atamita^^^K^mmmam^^^a^^mtmmmmmm^m 49.5% 

FOREIGN-BORN WHITE PARENTAGE 

I^HHl^iHHHHBMHiH 18.7% 



FOREIGN OR MIXED WHITE PARENTAGE 

wmmm^^ma^mm i6.3% 



NEGRO 

^^^^^^^^^ 15.5% 

DIAGRAM NO. 1: Nativity of the Male Population of Williamson 
County Twenty-one Years of Age and Over. 

NOTE : Slightly less than one-half of the male population of 
Williamson County twenty-one years of age and over are of native- 
born white parentage. 

can ideals stand for homogeneity of language and customs, 
and for freedom from social stratifications. There are 
some secluded foreign communities in Williamson County 
and elsewhere in Texas that are not American in language, 
in customs, or in social attitudes. They never will be so 
long as their practices of exclusiveness and social inbreeding 
are continued. The ideas of "our kind of people" and "one 
of our home girls will make us a good cheap teacher" are 
further perpetuating the state of social, cultural, and educa- 
tional retardation into which some of these foreign com- 
munities have fallen. There is little hope for the quicken- 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 

AUSTRIAN 

■^H 4.6% 

CANADIAN 
I .4% 

CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN 



DANISH 

■ 1% 

ENGLISH 

■ .9% 

FRENCH 

■ .3% 

GERMAN 



GREEK 

■ .2% 

IRISH 

■ .5% 

MEXICAN 



B 15% 



39% 



POLISH 

■ .5% 

RUSSIAN 

■ .6% 

SCOTCH 

■ .8% 

SWEDISH 



SWISS 

^« 2.4% 



14.4% 



DIAGRAM NO. 2: Nationalities of the Foreign-born Population of 
Willaimson County. 

ing light of Americanism to shine into the lives of some of 
these communities through the public schools so long as the 
present system of district school control obtains. It would 
be infinitely better for American ideals and for the dis- 



10 University of Texas Bulletin 

semination of American culture if the selection and place- 
ment of the teachers were put entirely into the hands of the 
County Superintendent and the County Board of Education. 
That would help immensely in preventing the employment 
of many "cheap," poorly educated home girls. 

It is not the intention of the writer to bring the indict- 
ment of narrowness, intolerance, and practical devotion to 
foreign traditions against all of the teachers who are the 
immediate descendants of foreign-born parentage in Wil- 
liamson County. Some of them, indeed, are well trained, 
even college bred, and are among the best teachers of the 
county. They are in thorough accord with the statements 
of the previous paragraphs. Some of them see even more 
clearly than the average teacher of American-born parent- 
age that the great work of the free public school in some 
of these foreign communities is that of extricating them 
from the ruts of group narrowness and social intolerance 
into which they have fallen. All hail to these teachers! 
There is a wonderful work for them to perform. They can 
do this work as few others can, and some of them, it must 
be said, are doing their work extraordinarily well. 

There are many Swedes in Williamson County. In fact 
14.2 per cent of the total foreign-born population of the 
county came from Sweden. These people and their imme- 
diate descendants constitute approximately 10 per cent of 
total population of the county. But the Swedes have not 
herded together in small clannish colonies to the extent that 
some of the other foreign groups have done. They have 
adopted American customs and are rapidly becoming as- 
similated as real Americans and are numbered among the 
country's best farmers, home-builders, and citizens. As a 
rule, the young Swede is a young American. 

It will be recalled that the Mexicans constitute 39 per 
cent of Williamson County's foreign-born population. To 
go into a full discussion of their social, economic, and educa- 
tional status would be a mere repetition of the study made 
in Karnes County and reported in Extension Bulletin 
No. 2246 of the University of Texas. They are as a rule 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 11 

poor, ill-clad, and ignorant. They are found in greatest 
numbers, as a rule, in those localities with the highest per- 
centages of farm tenancy. Farm tenancy, Mexicans, and 
poor schools seem to have a sort of mutual affinity for each 
other. 

Farm Tenancy. According to the report of the U. S. 
Bureau of the Census for 1920, 59.5 per cent of the farmers 
of Williamson County are classed as farm tenants. With 
the heavy percentage of non-home-owning and non-English- 
speaking population that Williamson County has, it is ex- 
ceedingly difficult to build a first-class system of rural 
schools. Farm tenancy and foreign-born white people 
who are indifferent toward American culture are the chief 
handicaps of public education in that county. 

Some of the landlords with large holdings operated by 
farm tenants are liberal in their attitude toward public 
education and have encouraged their tenants to vote taxes 
for school maintenance. Unfortunately, however, many do 
not belong to this group. A great many large owners are 
opposed to the payment of taxes for the education of other 
people's children. This is almost universally true in the 
districts where negro and Mexican tenants are most nu- 
merous. 

When a school tax election is pending in a district, the 
conduct of an opposing landlord is always quite amusing to 
the disinterested bystander. He seldom makes a bold, in- 
timidating, direct fight. His methods are those of indirec- 
tion. "I am for a good school but we had better put it off 
'til next year," said one. "Just wait 'til times get easier 
and I am with you in this matter," said another ; and "Let's 
make it a big consolidated school that's worth while," said 
still another, when he knew full well that the very consoli- 

FARM HOME OWNERS 

mK^^^mmmmmmmmamm^ 40.5% 



FARM TENANTS 

wmammmmmmMm^^mK^a^mmmmmi^m^^ 59.5% 



DIAGRAM NO. 3: Home Ownership in Williamson County. 



12 University of Texas Bulletin 

dation he proposed and advocated was a physical im- 
possibility. These self-styled apostles of education are ar- 
tists at muddying issues and confusing the minds of un- 
sophisticated voters. They readily acknowledge the need 
for better schools, but they hide behind all sorts of subter- 
fuges and resort to all manner of hypocrisy in order to avoid 
paying their proportionate shares of the cost. In many 
farm-tenant communities in the Black Land Belt of Texas 
the absentee landlords are depriving the children of this 
generation of the rights of a standard free-school educa- 
tion. The same fate remains for the children of the next 
generation. Our imperfect school system should be 
amended so as to remove these districts from the handi- 
caps of farm tenancy and proprietary greed. A county- 
wide school tax would possibly be a statesman-like step in 
that direction. 

Number and General Character of the Public Schools 
in Williamson County. There are eight independent school 
districts and 67 common school districts in Williamson 
County. The independent districts include the towns of 
Taylor, Granger, Georgetown, Round Rock, Jarrell, Flor- 
ence, Hutto, and Liberty Hill. 

The 67 common school districts contain 76 white schools, 

13 colored schools and 3 Mexican schools. The 76 white 
schools employ 141 teachers; the 13 colored schools, 15 
teachers ; and the 3 Mexican schools, 3 teachers. 

The whites and Mexicans have 34 one-teacher schools ; 34 
two-teacher schools ; 6 three-teacher schools ; 2 four-teacher 
schools ; 2 five-teacher schools ; and 1 six-teacher school. The 
negroes have 11 one-teacher schools and 2 two-teacher 
schools. There are.3 one-teacher Mexican schools. Most 
of the Mexican children who attend school all go to school 
with the white American children. 

This investigation includes tjie white rural schools only. 
However, it is deemed admissible to call attention to the fact 
that the rural negro . scholastic population numbering 788 
children in the county is being taught by only 15 teachers. 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 13 

which is an average of 51 pupils per teacher. This causes 
very bad over-crowding in some of the negro school rooms. 
There are 43 rural schools for whites that are attempting 
to give some high-school work. However, as only 12 of 
these schools have more than two teachers, the amount and 
the kind of high-school work done can not be very satis- 
factory. It is impossible to give a good high-school course 
in a two-teacher school. Most of the rural population of 
the county are quite inadequately supplied with high-school 
opportunities. The remedies for this condition are better 
roads, the consolidation of schools, the transportation of 
pupils for high-school purposes, and the raising of school 
tax rates. The consolidation of schools for high-school pur- 
poses, the transportation of pupils to and from school, and 
the raising of tax rates for school purposes in Williamson 
County are discussed elsewhere in this bulletin. 



EMPLOYING ONE TEACHER EACH 



■ 34 Schools 

■ 34 Schools 



EMPLOYING TWO TEACHERS EACH 

EMPLOYING THREE TEACHERS EACH 
^^■^M 6 Schools 

EMPLOYING FOUR TEACHERS EACH 

^ 2 Schools 

EMPLOYING FIVE TEACHERS EACH 
^2 Schools 

EMPLOYING SIX TEACHERS EACH 

■ 1 School 

DIAGRAM NO. 4: Types of Schools as to Number of Teachers Em- 
ployed in the 79 White and Mexican Rural Schools of Williamson 
County. 

The Country Roads. In the month of September, 
1921, Williamson County was visited by a very disastrous 
cloudburst. It extended over the entire county. The high 
water in the creeks and rivers broke all previous records. 
There was a very heavy loss of human life, live stock, field 



14 University of Texas Bulletin 

crops, and other farm property. Most of the culverts and 
bridges were swept away. The roads were damaged be- 
yond description. Unusually high water since that time 
has caused them further damage. As a result, the country 
roads in Williamson County at the time the survey was 
made (late spring of 1922) were in the worst condition they 
have been in for many years. This is silently operating, no 
doubt, in retarding the possibilities of school consolidation 
and the transportation of pupils at public expense in a great 
many localities. 

Rebuilding the roads and bridges will be a long, expensive 
process. But already the work is well under way. Some 
bond issues have been voted and others will doubtless follow. 
Better roads are one of the antecedents of better schools. 
As the roads improve, an interest in school consolidation 
will naturally follow. 



THE SMALL TOWN AND THE VILLAGE AS INFLU- 
ENCES IN RURAL EDUCATION 

We are beginning to get some very definite glimpses of 
the part that the small town and the village are, no doubt, 
destined to play in the role of rural education in the more 
populous agricultural areas throughout the South and the 
Middle West. When the history of present-day rural edu- 
cation in America is written one hundred years hence, the 
rise of the village and the part that it played during the 
first three-quarters of the Twentieth Century will make one 
of its most interesting chapters. 

The radius of the village's educational influence is being 
very perceptibly extended. There are several causes for 
this: (1) Automobiles and better roads ; (2) The more rapid 
development of the high school in the village than in the 
adjacent rural districts; (3) The constantly increasing ten- 
dency among country people to look to the nearest town or 
village for religious, cultural, and recreational advantages. 
The results are as follows: (1) In some instances so 
many country children are being sent to the village school 
that the village people are coming to feel that they are being 
imposed upon and are demanding that the adjacent country 
districts consolidate with them and bear their relative por- 
tions of the cost of maintaining the village school they 
patronize. (2) The wealthier and more progressive farmers 
are usually among the first ones to withdraw their children 
from the country school and send them to the village. Then, 
they not uncommonly lose interest in the small country 
schools they have ceased patronizing and become antag- 
onistic to all increases in local taxes for their support. 
This tends to leave a strangled circle of country schools 
around the village patronized by few others than those un- 
able to provide transportation for their children to the vil- 
lage center. Indeed, it is no uncommon thing at many 
places in the Black Land Belt of Texas to find that the 
country schools fifteen miles from town are much better 
than those four or five miles from town. Consequently, it 



16 University of Texas Bulletin 

is quite natural that some of the people who are unable to 
send their children to the nearby town or village school 
should join the village and town people in demanding con- 
solidation with transportation. 

The time has come when some of the rural districts ad- 
jacent to Taylor, Georgetown, and Granger with the ram- 
shackle school equipment of a quarter of a century ago must 
either build and maintain better schools or be taken into 
those towns by the process of consolidation. The wealthy 
farmer who will wear out two or three automobiles sending 
his children to town to school and at the same time use all 
his power and influence for the financial strangulation of 
the country school in the district where he resides has just 
about had his day. Public sentiment is resenting the fact 
that he has not been paying his full and proportionate share 
of the cost of maintaining the free schools of the land. 

The situation at Granger at its present stage is quite in- 
teresting. Last year the schools of the small town of 
Granger took care of 75 children from the surrounding 
country outside of the Granger School District. At the 
time this survey was made the citizenship of this town and 
some of the voters of the adjoining rural districts had a 
petition with 250 signatures to be presented to the next 
Legislature praying that the boundary lines of the Granger 
Independent School District be extended by special enact- 
merit so as to include some of the adjoining common-school 
districts. A few of the reluctant taxpayers in some of the 
common-school districts with deplorably poor school equip- 
ment, adjacent to the town of Taylor, are now suffering 
considerable mental anxiety and fear lest the boundary lines 
of the Taylor Independent School District be extended in 
like manner and they be taken into it. 

There is no doubt that the towns and villages are des- 
tined to play an important part in the future of rural 
education in Texas. In most instances they are the logical 
high school centers for the rural districts surrounding them. 
It is uneconomical for a rural district to try to maintain a 
high school when a high school with more teachers, better 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 



17 



equipment, and the inspiration that a larger number of 
pupils always has to give can be reached by a community- 
owned automobile bus at a distance of from three to eight 
or nine miles. Duplications of high school equipment with- 
in such a radius is a social waste. But the chief economy 
of the central high school in the village is the economy of 
efficiency in the character of the service rendered. A better 
high school can be maintained in the village than it is ordi- 
narily possible to maintain in the rural district immediately 
adjacent to the town or village. 

Most of these village high school centers now in the mak- 
ing will develop by the slow process of accretion. The de- 
velopment of some of them will extend over periods of two 
or three decades. But their ultimate maturity is sure and 
inevitable. The rural people are coming to understand bet- 
ter the working of improved educational machinery. Coun- 
try people with children to educate are more and more in- 
clined to look to the superior educational facilities of the 
nearby village and small town and say, "We want to get in 
on that." In the end the village and all the Common-school 
districts bordering it will be brought into a single system 
and all will be benefited thereby. Small, well-equipped 
schools will be maintained in the country for the children of 
the lower elementary grades while those in the upper ele- 
mentary and the high-school grades will be transported in 
publicly owned, motor-driven conveyances to the central 
village school. 



ENROLLMENT, ATTENDANCE, AND CON- 
SOLIDATION 

Enrollment and Attendance. Of the 5,985 white scholas- 
tics enumerated in the rural districts 4,738, or 79.1 per cent 
were enrolled in the rural free schools during the school 
year 1921-22. Those not enrolled in the rural free schools 
fall into three groups: (1) Those enrolled in the rural 
parochial schools; (2) Those transferred to the town 
schools; (3) Those not enrolled in any school. The num- 
ber of scholastics in each of these three groups not enrolled 
in the rural free schools was not definitely ascertained. 
However, the last mentioned group, those not enrolled in 
any school, constitute approximately 600 white scholastics 
or 10 per cent of the white scholastic population of the rural 
districts. For the most part the white rural scholastics not 
enrolled in any school fall into two classes: (1) Children 
of Mexican parentage; (2) Children beyond the compulsory 
school age and used by their parents to work in the fields. 
Many fathers take their children out of school and put them 
to work immediately after the birthday removing them 
from the compulsory school age. Some of them are evident- 
ly more interested in the making and harvesting of another 
crop than they are in the educational and cultural uplift 
of their children. The attitude was very well expressed 
by a father in speaking of the compulsory school attendance 
law when he said : "What sort of country is this that wants 
to take a man's children away from him just at the time he 
needs them most !" 

For the school year 1921-22 the average length of school 
term for the elementary grades of the rural schools was 
131 days, and for the towns of Taylor, Granger, and George- 
town it was 166 days, 169, and 159 days respectively. The 
4,416 children enrolled in the elementary grades of the rural 
schools show an average school attendance of 93.8 days 
each. The children enrolled in the elementary grades of 
the schools at Taylor, Granger, and Georgetown show an 
average attendance of 129.5 days, 131.1 days and 138 days, 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 19 



ALL THE RURAL SC HOOL S OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY 

mi^mmm^Km^^i^^^B 95 Days 



GRANGER 

^^^^^^^gmam^m^Brnm^Km^KOBis 131.1 Days 

TAYLOR 

129.5 Days 



ROUND ROCK 

^ 141.8 Days 



LIBERTY HILL ^_ 

^^^^^^^g^i^^^^imi^^mmim^i^^Bmmm 149.3 Days 

GEORGETOWN ^^__^^_ 

^^g^m^j^^^^g^^HB^B^B^i^HHl^^BWBH 144 Days 

DIAGRAM NO. 5: Average Daily Attendance of Each White Child 
Enrolled in the Rural Schools Compared With the Average Daily At- 
tendance of Each White Child Enrolled in the Town Schools for the 
School year of 1921-22. 

respectively. The students enrolled in the high school 
grades of the rural schools attended school an average of 
111.5 days each while those of the high school grades in the 
town of Taylor attended an average of 145.5 days and those 
of Granger 149.5 days. 

Consolidation. In 1920 the Gravis and the Smith schools 
in Williamson County were consolidated. Their union 
formed the new Hudson Consolidated School. Both the 
Gravis and the Smith schools had been running with one 
teacher each. The new Hudson Consolidated School em- 
ploys three teachers. 

During the school year of 1920-21, before consolidation, 
the Gravis school enrolled 52 pupils and the Smith school 
enrolled 22 pupils. The total aggregate attendance of the 
74 pupils enrolled in these two schools was 5,895 days. The 
very next year the new Hudson Consolidated school enrolled 
77 pupils with a total aggregate attendance of 8,455 days. 
The aggregate attendance increased 2,560 days, or 43.4 per 
cent, after consolidation. This gain in total attendance was 
made in the face of the fact that the school term of the new 



20 University of Texas Bulletin 

THE RURAL DISTRICTS 

mmi^a^^^K^Km^mmmmm^^m isi Days 

GRANGER 

mma^ma^mi^a^i^m^m^mmm^^mi^^mm i69 Days 

T AYLOR _^_^^_ 

■■^■■■^■■^^■■I^HHHHlHBHHiHHB 166 Days 

ROUND ROCK ^^ 

tmm^mmm^mH^^mm^^mm^^maim^mtmm iso Days 

LIBERTY HILL 

wm^mmm^mam^^mtm^mm^m^^^^mm^ 173 Days 

GEORGETOWN 

w^mm^m^a^a^a^mmi^mmmi^^^^mm 159 Days 

DIAGRAM NO. 6. Average Length of Term for the Elementary 
Schools of the Rural Districts Compared With the Length of Term 
for the Eelementary Schools of the Towns of Williamson County for 
the School Year of 1921-22. 

Hudson school was three days shorter than the terms of the 
Gravis and Smith schools the year before consolidation. 

The stock argument against consolidation is that it will 
remove the school so far from some homes that the children 
can not attend. This argument looks as if it were perfectly 
true and legitimate. However, it will not stand the test of 
demonstration. It falls down in practice. In many in- 
stances the author has examined the records of school at- 
tendance before and after consolidation and he has never 
found a case where attendance was not increased by consoli- 
dation. Under consolidation, school attendance is influenced 
a great deal more by the improved quality and character of 
the school than by the increased length of the road from 
pupils' homes to the schoolhouse. When there is a real school 
at the other end of the road, both parents and pupils will 
make greater efforts and sacrifices to reach it than they will 
a poor school within a stone's throw of home. As a rule, 
the small, inefficiently taught rural schools of one and two 
teachers show the poorest average daily attendance of any 
free schools in Texas. 

During the school year of 1921-22 there were 1206 chil- 
dren enrolled in the 34 one-teacher schools of Williamson 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 21 



IN THE ONE-TEACHER S CHOO LS 

^mmam^Kmtmm^^^^^i^^^ 93.8 Days 



IN THE TWO-TEACHER SC HOOL S 
PH^^HIH^iBHi^B^B^B*^^ 93.4 Days 

IN THE THREE-TEACHER S CHOOL S 
l^iBIHiHif^H^l^l^^l^ii^^H^II^H 105.4 Days 

IN THE FOUR-TEACHER SCHOOLS 

109.4 Days 



IN THE FIVE-TEACHER SCHO OLS 

^m^^mm^m^mKmam^Kmmmmmi^ 110.4 Days 



IN THE SIX-TEACHER SCHOOLS 

fi^^^g^/^^^^i^^^amm^mmmB^^mma^m 132.6 Days 

DIAGRAM NO. 7: Average Number of Days School Was Attended 
by Each White Child Enrolled During the School Year of 1921-22. 

NOTE: The poorest school attendance in the county is found in 
the rural schools with one and two teachers. 

County attending school an average of 93.8 days each ; 2140 
enrolled in the 34 two-teacher schools attending school an 
average of 93.4 days each; 542 enrolled in the 6 three- 
teacher schools attending an average of 105.4 days each; 
140 enrolled in 1 four-teacher school attending an average 
of 109.4 days each;* 321 enrolled in the 2 five-teacher 
schools attending an average of 110.4 days each; and 224 
enrolled in the one six-teacher school attending an average 
of 132.6 days each. The larger rural schools show the best 
average daily attendance. This is clearly set forth in 
Diagram No. 7. 

There is no school map of Williamson County nor any 
other convenient and practicable means whereby the areas 
of the several common school districts could be readily as- 
certained. There is a total of 75 independent and common 
school districts in the county with an average area of 15 



*There are 2 four-teacher schools in Williamson County, but be- 
cause of an error in the reports, one of them is not included in this 
study. 



22 University of Texas Bulletin 

square miles each. Some are much smaller than the av- 
erage and quite irregular in shape. That consolidation 
would be practicable and helpful in a great many instances, 
there can be no doubt. It might be well for the school 
patrons to think over the possibilities of consolidation in 
the following instances: 

(1) Fairview joins the Georgetown Independent School 
District. There are many transfers to Georgetown. Con- 
solidation with transportation to Georgetown is a possibility 
that might be well worth considering. 

(2) Berry's Creek, Strickland Grove, and Mt. Prospect 
are contiguous districts having a total of 193 children of 
free school age. They have three one-teacher free schools. 
Some of the wealthier people residing in these districts send 
their children to Georgetown to school. But there are many 
other children in this locality who will never be properly 
educated unless the school is brought to them. A centrally 
located school with five or six teachers would be of incal- 
culable educational value to this trio of districts. 

(3) Prairie Lea is a small district with no tax. It does 
not contain enough wealth to support a standard school. 
Its only hope is consolidation. 

(4) Theon and Walburg could sustain one of the best 
consolidated schools of four teachers in Williamson County. 

(5) If a bridge were built across the creek and the Law- 
ler and Gravel Hill schools consolidated, the children of these 
two districts could be provided with much better educa- 
tional opportunities than will ever be possible under the 
present conditions. 

(6) Eckman, Beaukiss, and Larence Chapel could come 
together and have a school with six or seven teachers, mak- 
ing it possible to do a good quality of high school work. 
Good high school work can not be done in a two-teacher 
school. The roads are not bad in this part of the county. 
Consolidation would be practicable. 

(7) Barker, Polanka, and Tennill could benefit by con- 
solidation. 

(8) Friendship has the school equipment of a quarter 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 23 

of a century ago. By joining with Enterprise for better 
things in education both districts would be benefited. 

(9) Jonah is to have a new $18,000 building. The little 
district of Monodale adjacent to the Jonah district would 
do well to get in on this proposition by the process of con- 
solidation. 

(10) Tanglewood and Conaway by consolidating would 
have about $180,000 of wealth and could maintain a much 
better school than it is possible for either of them to have 
working separately. 

(11) Yarborough employs one teacher and has a very 
old and unsatisfactory building. It would be helpful to 
consolidate with Jim Hogg. Yarborough needs Jim Hogg 
and Jim Hogg needs Yarborough. 

(12) Cedar Valley is the smallest district in the county. 
It contains only $24,420 of wealth. That is insufficient to 
support even a one-teacher school. This district would do 
well to consider putting on transportation to the village of 
Round Rock. Gattis might also improve its educational lot 
by transportation to Round Rock. 

(13) Walnut Springs and Rice's Crossing working to- 
gether could have a much better school than either can 
working individually. 

(14) Sandoval has a poor building and almost no equip- 
ment. The white children would have much better educa- 
tional opportunities if this district were consolidated with 
Hare. There should be a new negro school building in the 
Sandoval district. 

(15) Type and Pear Valley would be fortunate if a con- 
solidation could be effected with Coupland maintaining a 
good two-teacher school for the lower elementary grades 
for these two places and transportation to the Coupland 
school for the children of higher classification. 

(16) The Helwig district has three old, poorly-equipped 
schools employing one teacher each. There are 189 children 
of school age in the district. Most of them stop school at 
the age of fourteen. The school terms are short and the 
teachers change nearly every year. Would it not be much 
better if this district had one good school with five teachers? 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 

IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS OF WILLIAMSON 

COUNTY 

The Local Schosl Tax Rates. The school tax rates among 
the 67 common school districts of Williamson County run 
as follows : one district has 60c ; twenty-four have 50c ; five 
have 40c; one has 30c; nine have 25c; one has 21c; four 
have 20c; four have 15c; eight have 10c; one has 5c; and 
nine have no tax at all. The average rate of school tax 
among the rural districts of Williamson County is 29.2 
cents. This is very low. In some counties of Texas the 
rural school district tax rates range from the minimum of 
50 cents to the maximum of 100 cents. Public education 
in Williamson County can never come into its own until 
better financial support is given to the schools in the rural 
districts. 

This county is far behind in the financial support of its 
schools, but it is encouraging to note the progress that has 
been made during the past two and one-half years. During 
this time fifteen school bond issues have been voted upon 
and fourteen of them successfully passed. Out of a total of 
twenty-two school maintenance tax elections eighteen have 
met with success. This is a good showing. If like progress 
can be made for each period of two and one-half years for 
the next decade the rural schools of this county will com- 
pare favorably with the best rural schools of the state. 

For the school year of 1921-22 the average length of the 
rural elementary schools of Williamson County was 131 
days. The school term should be extended to 180 days. In 
many instances better school equipment and stronger 
teachers are needed. But these improvements can not come 
and a "square deal" for the country children of this county 
can not be had without an adequate increase in the school 
tax rates in most of the rural school districts. 

Public Education Is Supported More Liberally in the Town 
Districts Than in the Country Districts. For next year local 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 25 



School tax 
rates per 
$100 of 
wealth 



70 


cents 


60 


cents 


55 


cents 


50 


cents 


45 


cents 


40 


cents 


35 


cents 


30 


cents 


25 


cents 


20 


cents 


15 


cents 


10 


cents 


5 


cents 



cents 



I 



I 



X 

< 

O 



Number 1 
of Districts 
voting school 
taxes 



24 



DIAGRAM NO. 8: Local School Tax Rates Among the Common 
School Districts of Williamson County. 



26 University of Texas Bulletin 

THE RURAL SCHOOLS OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY 
^■■■■^^^^^^ $21 

TAYLOR 

wmm^^^^^mmm^^^mi^mm^K^mm^^m $44.38 

GRANGER 

^^^^mmm^m^mm^^^^ $30.33 

ROUND ROCK 
LIBERTY HILL 

^^^K^^m^^^^^^^^^mt $31.50 

GEORGETOWN 

mammmmm^B^^^^^^^mi^^m^^^ $37.00 

DIAGRAM NO. 9. Average Annual Cost of Instruction for Each 
Child in Average Daily Attendance. 

school tax rates in the town districts run as follows : George- 
town, 98c ; Taylor, 100c ; Granger, 50c ; Jarrell, 50c ; Liberty- 
Hill, 85c; Round Rock, 50c. This is considerably above 
the average for the school tax rates in the country districts, 
which is 29.2 cents. It must also be remembered that in 
some of the town independent districts property is assessed 
at a much higher rate of valuation for school tax purposes 
than it is in the common-school districts of the county. For 
example, the school tax rate of 50 cents in the Granger 
Independent School District is levied against 65 per cent of 
the true value of the wealth of the district, while in the com- 
mon school districts the school tax rates are levied against 
approximately 50 per cent of the true value of the taxable 
wealth they contain. If the school taxes paid in George- 
town, Granger, and Taylor for the school year of 1921-22 
had been assessed against only 50 per cent of the value 
of the wealth in those places, as is practiced in the common 
school districts, their tax rates would have been 196c, 61.5c, 
and 70c, respectively, or an average of 109.3 cents. The 
reduction of the wealth of the independent districts and the 
common school districts to the same basis of valuation and 
assessment shows that the people of Georgetown, Granger, 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 27 

and Taylor are 3.7 times as liberal as the country people are 
in the financial support of their free schools.* Where the 
farmers are spending 29.2c per $100 of wealth the town 
people are spending 109.5c per $100. That the town chil- 
dren are much better educated than the country children of 
Williamson County is a fact readily admitted by all. This 
difference in education is brought about, to a very large 
degree, by the more liberal financial support given to edu- 
cation in the town places. 

The Financial Ability of the Rural Districts in Wil- 
liamson County. The rural school districts of Williamson 
County vary considerably in their amounts of wealth. The 
Wilson Springs district is the wealthiest rural district in the 
county. It has a property valuation of $736,580 which 
amounts to $3,701 of wealth per school child. This is 38.1 
per cent more than the average amount of wealth per school 
child in Texas, the average amount of wealth per school 
child in Texas being $2,663. But this wealthy district has 
the school equipment of a quarter of a century ago. Its 
schoolhouse is old and dilapidated. The school tax rate is 
10c per $100 of wealth and produces $3.69 for each of the 
199 children of free school age. Some of the poorest school- 
houses in the county are to be found in very wealthy dis- 
tricts. 

There are some districts that are small and contain very 
little wealth. For instance, the Cedar Valley district has a 
property valuation of only $24,420. To equip and maintain 
a one-teacher school for 180 days in this district, with 
standards on a par with those found in the elementary 
grades of the average town school, would require an annual 
budget of approximately $1,000. If it were possible to se- 
cure $200 in special state aid and a per capita state appor- 
tionment of $13.50 for each of the nine scholastics in the 
district, or a total of $121.50, there would still be a deficit 
of $678.50 to be raised in local school taxes. This would 
call for a school tax rate of $2.78 per $100 of wealth. That 



'See Diagram No. 11. 



Wealth 


Wealth per 


Tax 


of district 


school child 


rate 


$2,393,000.00 


$2,562.00 


$ .50 


1,880,769.00 


2,293.00 


.98 


4,500,000.00 


2,619.00 


1.00 



28 University of Texas Bulletin 

makes the cost of a standard school for 180 days in that 
community almost prohibitive. The more practical thing 
is to consolidate with some nearby school, thus bringing 
together a larger amount of wealth and making it possible 
to maintain a standard school at a lower rate of taxation. 

TABLE NO. 2 

FINANCIAL STATUS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE THREE 

LARGEST INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICTS OF 

WILLIAMSON COUNTY 

Children 
enumerated 

Georgetown 934 

Granger 820 

Taylor 1718 

Note. The wealth of each of the three independent school districts 
appearing in Table No. 2 is based upon 50 per cent of true value 
which is the same as the basis of valuation for the wealth of the 
common school districts of the rural communities in Table No. 1. 
By comparing these two tables it may be seen that the wealth per 
school child in these three independent districts is less than the wealth 
per school child in some of the rural districts. The school tax rates 
appearing in Table No. 2 are the rates for the school year of 1921-22. 

The children in the rural districts of Williamson County 
are entitled to educational facilities as good as those en- 
joyed by the children in the towns of Georgetown, Taylor, 
and Granger. If standard school equipment, a school term 
of nine months, and teachers professionally trained in nor- 
mal schools and universities be good for the town children, 
would they not be equally desirable for the country chil- 
dren? After having carefully examined the amount of 
wealth and the number of children to be educated in each 
school district of this county, the writer does not believe it 
will ever be financially practicable, under our present sys- 
tem of school support, for any district in Williamson County 
with less than $100,000 of wealth to maintain a standard 
free school for nine months each year. The only hope for 
the small districts is that of consolidation. The following 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 29 

THE RURAL DISTRICTS OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY 

^^^^^^^m^^^^^^m^^^m^m^^m $2,458 



THE TOWN DISTRICTS 

^^^^^^^^■^^■^^^^■^^^^iHHBHi $2,527 

DIAGRAM NO. 10: Wealth Per School Child in the Rural Districts 
Compared with the Wealth Per School Child in the Town Districts. 

NOTE: Figure No. 10 includes the three largest towns of Wil- 
liamson County: Georgetown, Granger, and Taylor. The charge has 
often been made that the towns are wealthier than the county dis- 
trict and financially better able to support their schools. But the 
truth is that the average amount of wealth per child to be educated 
in the country in Williamson County is practically the same as the 
average amount of wealth per child to be educated in the towns. 

districts with small valuation would do well to make the 
necessary sacrifices and compromises in pooling their re- 
sources with neighboring districts for greater things in edu- 
cation: Hopewell, $76,000; Lawler, $59,000; Eckman, $62,- 
000; Tanglewood, 79,770; Cedar Valley, $24,420; Yarbo- 
rough, $75,262; Jim Hogg, $72,520; Beaukiss, $78,155; 
Strickland Grove, $88,240; Type, $42,540. 

Now let us look at the combined wealth of the rural dis- 
tricts of Williamson County. The 58 common school dis- 
tricts voting local school taxes contain $14,391,590 of taxable 
wealth and 5,854 children of school age : that is, $2,458 of 
wealth per child to be educated. As derived from Table 
No. 2, the average wealth per school child in the three inde- 
pendent school districts of Georgetown, Granger, and Taylor 
is $2,527 per child. 

The wealth per school child in the rural districts of Wil- 
liamson County is much greater than the wealth per school 
child in the rural districts of most of the agricultural coun- 
ties of Texas. For example. Van Zandt County is a typical 
East Texas agricultural county. This county has 80 common 
school districts containing $7,511,330 of taxable wealth and 
7,293 children of free school age : that is, $1,028 of wealth 
per school child, or just 41.8 per cent of the amount of 
wealth per school child in the rural districts of Williamson 



30 University of Texas Bulletin 

IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS 
■^^■■■^^ 29.2c 

IN THE TOWN DISTRICTS 

■■i^^aHHl^^^^HB^^^H^^^MHi^^ 109. 5c 

DIAGRAM NO. 11: Amount Contributed to Education Per $100 
of Wealth. 

NOTE: Figure No. 10 shows that the rural districts have practi- 
cally the same amount of wealth per school child as the town dis- 
tricts. But Diagram No. '11 shows that the town people are more than 
three times as liberal as the country people in the support of public 
education. 

In making the above comparisons the wealth of the town districts 
(Georgetown, Granger, and Taylor) is estim.ated upon the same 
basis of rendition, about 50 per cent of the true value, as that 
used by the county tax assessor in ascertaining the amount of wealth 
in each of the rural districts. 

County. Yet, the author feels safe in saying after visiting 
the schools in both counties that the rural schools of Van 
Zandt County have better buildings and equipment than 
the rural schools of Williamson County. 

Williamson County has sufficient rural wealth adequately 
to support the rural schools. It is not suffering from the 
handicap of poverty. Some of the rural districts have more 
wealth per school child than the towns of the county have. 
The chief financial difficulties in the way of rural education 
in this county are: (1) Too many small districts; (2) too 
many districts with school tax rates ranging from very low 
(thirty or forty cents) down to nothing at all. A pooling 
of the wealth of the county through a county tax, together 
with some needed consolidations, would solve many of the 
school problems of the county. 



THE TEACHERS 

There are 144 white teachers employed in the 76 white 
American rural schools and the three Mexican rural schools 
of Williamson County. Information was gathered from 
113 of these teachers. Of this number 106 are women and 
7 are men. The median age of the women teachers was 
22.6 years and of the men teachers 32 years. The women 
teachers began teaching at the median age of 18.2 years 
and the men at 20 years. The men had a median teaching 
experience of 13 years and the women 3 years. 

Of the 113 teachers reporting, 32, or 28.3 per cent, 
had less than one year of experience and 74, or 64.4 per 
cent, were teaching their first year in their present positions. 
There were 20, or 17.7 per cent, who were teaching their 
second year in their present positions ; 12, or 10.6 per cent, 
their third year; 3, or 2.6 per cent their fourth year; 3 
their fifth year, and 1 the seventh year. 

Five of the seven men teachers had graduated from high 
schools. Three of those graduating from high school had 
later graduated from normal schools and two from the Uni- 
versity of Texas. Two of the men teachers had never 
graduated from high school. 

Of the 97 women teachers reporting, 69, or 71.1 per cent, 
had graduated from high school and 28, or 28.9 per cent, 
had not graduated from high school. There were 7, or 7.2 
per cent, who were normal school graduates and 3, or 3.1 
per cent, who were university graduates. 

The women teachers had attended institutions of higher 
learning an average of 1.1 years each and the men teachers 
3.1 years each. Of the 113 teachers replying to the ques- 
tionnaires, 8.4 per cent of the women and 57.1 per cent of the 
men held permanent certificates ; 49.5 per cent of the women 
and 42.9 per cent of the men held first grade certificates ; 
and 42 per cent of the women and none of the men held sec- 
ond grade certificates. 

The average monthly salary for the women teachers was 
$97.23 and for the men teachers $136.43, the average length 



32 University of Texas Bulletin 

of school term being 7.4 months for the women and 9.3 
months for the men. This gives an average annual salary 
of $719.50 for the women teachers and $1,268.80 for the men 
teachers. The average monthly expenses for board, clothes, 
laundry, and transportation were $33.60 for the women 
and $59.42 for the men. This difference in the cost of 
living is due to the fact that 57.1 per cent of the men are 
married and have homes to maintain while only 16.8 per 
cent of the women are married, and to the further fact that 
the men teachers have an average of four persons each either 
totally or partially dependent upon them for support while 
the women teachers have an average of only .5 such de- 
pendent persons. 

With the prospect of an average annual salary of 
$1,268.80 for men teachers there is little inducement for 
the young man to spend four years of his life in college 
preparing for teachmg as a career. He knows that he can 
not marry, rear a family, and maintain satisfactory stand- 
ards of living on so small an income. As a result but few 
men of good ability are going into teaching as their life's 
work. Most of the young men in the teaching profession 
look upon it as temporary employment until they can get into 
something that pays better. Who can blame them? The 
fields of law, medicine, the mechanical trades and industries, 
business, etc., are more attractive because they promise 
greater emoluments and unlimited opportunities for pro- 
motion. 

The rural school surveys in Wichita, Karnes, and William- 
son counties show that the women teachers are younger, 
not as well qualified, have had less actual teaching ex- 
perience, and are not as well paid as the men teachers. 
However, the comparative pay for men and women teachers 
is a question for debate, for there are some who contend 
that the women teachers are better paid than the men 
teachers when considered in the light of their age, exper- 
ience, and professional preparation. 

In this discussion of the rural teachers of Williamson 
County we must not fail to give a few moments of observa- 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 33 

tion to their living conditions. There were 13 per cent of 
teachers living with their parents, 72 per cent boarding, and 
15 per cent keeping house. There were 28.9 per cent of the 
teachers who did not have rooms to themselves at their 
boarding places and 30.1 per cent whose rooms were with- 
out heat during the winter months. The median distance 
from boarding place to schoolhouse was approximately one- 
half mile. While 27.4 per cent of the teachers lived less 

MEDIAN AGE 
Men: B^Hl^HHH^BHHil^^^^BHHBHI^^^BBaiHHi 32 Years 

Women: ■■■^■■^■■■■i^^HHHHHHi^lH 22.6 Years 

MEDIAN AGE WHEN THEY BEGAN TEACHING 
Men: l^^^lHH^i^HHHII^^^HHHHI 20 Years 

Women: ^^■^^^■■^■■■^^■■■i 18.2 Years 

MEDIAN TEACHING EXPERIENCE 
Men: ■Bi^^^^^iMl^BMB 13 Years 

Women: IMBBBB^MI 3 Years 

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE UPON INSTITUTIONS 
OF HIGHER LEARNING 
Men: I^H 3.1 Years 

Women: ■ 1.1 Years 

AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARIES 
Men: ^■■■■■HHHHHH^^^^^^HHl^BHHI^ $1,268.80 

Women: HBaa^OBBH^^^^^i^ $719.50 

DIAGRAM NO. 12: The Teachers in the Rural Schools of William- 
son County. 

than one-fourth mile from the schools in which they taught, 
there were, on the other hand, 19.6 per cent living from one- 
half to one mile away, 11.7 per cent from one to two miles 
away, 5.8 per cent from two to three miles away, and 7.8 
per cent more than three miles away. 

From the information at hand it does not appear that the 
living conditions of the rural teachers in this county are 
any better or any worse than the living conditions for rural 
teachers in general in Texas. But it should be remembered 
that the usual objections so many capable women have to 



34 University of Texas Bulletin 

teaching in the country are : isolation, uncomfortable board- 
ing places, and long stretches of muddy road between 
boarding place and schoolhouse. The efficient teacher must 
be a happy teacher. It is hard for happiness and content- 
ment, to exist if one is in an uncomfortable boarding place. 
The teacher with a warm room all to herself at her board- 
ing place where she can read, think, and make her daily les- 
son plans undisturbed will, as a rule, enter the schoolroom 
each morning in a better mental and spiritual attitude and 
with more definite and decisive objectives in view than the 
teacher not having such home comforts. 

In the rural community of pioneer days it was looked 
upon as a sort of honor to board the school teacher. But 
times have changed. Today, in most rural communities, 
most people prefer not to board the teacher. This is an 
unfortunate situation. It is a matter that country parents 
with children to educate and patrons and trustees with 
schools to support and direct should not pass by with 
thoughtless disregard. The boarding place involves the 
teacher's efficiency and the community's educational wel- 
fare to a much greater degree than most people realize. 
The trustee or the school patron who thoughtfully sees to it 
that board and room are provided for the teacher in a good 
home near the school huose renders a philanthropic and 
patriotic service for education in the community. 

In answering the question, "What, in your judgment, 
could the normal school in which you studied have done in 
its training to better prepare you for your present work?" 
the following are some of the most significant and impres- 
sive answers given : "Specialized more in elementary school 
subjects" ; "Given more careful attention to practice teach- 
ing for rural teachers" ; "Specialized more in teaching and 
less in certificate getting"; "Given a course in teaching 
country foreigners"; "Practice teaching should have been 
done with average children instead of brilliant ones" ; "We 
forget all about actual existing rural conditions in the ideal 
atmosphere of our normal training school." 



THE PUPILS 



In Texas the fiscal school year begins on the first day of 
September. Al^ children who reach their seventh birthday 
before the first of September are entitled to free school 
privileges the following school year. Children usually 
enter the first grade some time between their seventh and 
eighth birthdays. But before the school year ends a great 
many of the children of the first grade will have passed 
their eighth birthdays, for the birthdays of many of them 
will come during the school year. For that reason, during 
the last half of the school year the normal first grad^ pu- 

TABLE NO. Ill 
AGES, GRADES AND SEXES OF PUPILS 





Sex 


Age 






4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


19 


20 


21 
and 
over 




1 


Boys 
Girls 


1 


8 
6 


54 
57 


172 
139 


133 
122 


55 
44 


36 
27 


7 
12 


14 
9 


10 
3 


5 
3 


1 


1 












495 
424 


2 


Boys 
Girls 






2 
1 


9 
18 


53 

56 


68 
69 


35 
33 


26 
21 


14 
9 


4 
5 


5 
3 


1 














217 

215 


3 


Boys 
Girls 










7 
15 


42 
56 


58 
75 


34 
39 


32 
21 


13 
10 


11 
3 


6 














203 
219 


4 


Boys 
Girls 












16 
18 


36 
51 


68 
64 


56 
43 


39 
15 


18 
6 


11 

1 














244 
198 


5 


Boys 
Girls 












3 
2 


9 
14 


25 
32 


57 
36 


54 
41 


31 

24 


13 

5 


2 
2 


1 
2 










195 

158 


6 


Boys 
Girls 
















10 
22 


44 
42 


47 
44 


39 
30 


19 
12 


7 
5 


3 










169 
155 


7 


Boys 
Girls 
















3 


8 
8 


26 
40 


39 
33 


29 
32 


18 
12 


13 

10 


1 
3 


3 


2 




134 
146 


8 


Boys 
Girls 


















1 


8 
8 


9 
19 


15 
25 


17 
13 


12 
13 


5 


1 


1 


1 


69 
79 


9 


Boys 
Girls 




















2 


1 

7 


11 
12 


2 
9 


3 

4 


1 
3 








20 
35 


10 


Boys 
Girls 






















2 


1 
3 


4 
3 


1 
2 


3 
2 


1 
3 


1 




10 
16 


11 


Boys 

Girls 








































12 


Boys 
Girls 








































Total- - 


Boys 
Girls 


1 


8 
6 


56 
58 


181 
157 


193 
193 


184 
189 


174 
200 


170 
193 


226 
168 


203 
166 


158 
130 


106 
91 


50 
45 


33 
31 


10 
8 


2 

6 


1 
3 


1 


1756 
1645 



pils may be said to be seven and eight years old. In like 
manner, the normal second grade pupils may be said to be 
eight and nine years old; the normal third grade pupils 
nine and ten years old, etc. Table No. Ill shows the ages 



36 University of Texas Bulletin 

UNDER-AGE PUPILS 
i^i^^ 9.2% 

PUPILS OF NORMAL AGE 

^K^^Ki^im^a^HmmmK^mma^^^mammmmmm 54.1% 

OVER-AGE PUPILS 

i^^"l"""^^«"""^i^B^« 36.6% 



DIAGRAM NO. 13: Age-grade Distribution of the Pupils in the Rural 
Schools of Williamson County. 

NOTE. The "under-age" pupils are those who are younger than 
the average age for the pupils in the grades in which they appear. 
They are sometimes spoken of as being "ahead of their classes." 
The "over-age" pupils are those who are older than the average age 
for the pupils in the grades in which they appear. They are some- 
times spoken of as being "behind their classes." There are 36.6 per 
cent of the pupils in the rural schools of Williamson County behind 
the grades in which you would normally expect to find them in. This 
is due to short school terms, irregular attendance, over-crowded 
schools, etc. 

and the grades of 3401 pupils in the rural schools of Wil- 
liamson County at the time this investigation was made 
during the months of April and May, 1922. The num- 
bers representing the pupils of normal age in each grade 
are enclosed between the two zigzag lines running from 
the upper left-hand corner to the lower right-hand corner 
of the table. The numbers to the right of these zigzag 
lines represent those pupils who are "over age" or behind 
the grades and classes they should be in, and the numbers 
to the left of the two zizzag lines represent the pupils 
who are "under age" or younger than the normal age for 
the pupils of the grades in which they appear. 

An examination of Table No. Ill shows that out of the 
3401 pupils included in it there are 314, or 9.2 per cent, who 
are "under age"; 1839, or 54.1 per cent, who are of normal 
age; and 1248, or 36.6 per cent who are "over age" and 
behind the grades and classes you would expect to find them 
in. Of 1248 "over age" pupils, 606 were one grade behind ;: 
376 two grades behind; 148 three grades behind; 70 four 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 37 

grades behind; 34 five grades behind; and 12 six grades 
behind. 

The large number of pupils, 36.6 per cent, behind the 
grades they should be in is quite significant. It shows that 
slightly more than one-third of the country children are 
dragging along from one year to four years behind the 
grades they should be in. It suggests a lack of efficiency 
on the part of the schools they attend. Among the causes 
for this evident ineflficiency might be mentioned irregular 
attendance, short school terms, and overcrov^ded schools. 
The fourth column of Table No. IV show^s the percentage 
of "over age" pupils in each grade. 

TABLE NO. IV 

PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS IN EACH GRADE THAT ARE 
UNDER AGE, OVER AGE, AND OF NORMAL AGE 





Number 


Per cent 


Per cent 


Per cent 


jrade 


of 


of under 


of pupils 


of over 




pupils 


age pupils 


normal age 


age pupils 


1 


919 


13.9 


61.4 


24.7 


2 


432 


6.9 


56.9 


38.4 


3 


422 


5.2 


54.7 


40.0 


4 


442 


7.7 


49.5 


42.7 


5 


353 


7.9 


42.6 


49.0 


6 


324 


10.0 


54.5 


35.5 


7 


270 


6.9 


49.1 


44.0 


8 


148 


11.6 


45.9 


42.5 


9 


55 


18.2 


61.8 


20.0 


10 


26 


23.1 


38.4 


38.4 



There are two things of special interest in Table IV. 
They are : (1) The large number of pupils in the first grade ; 
(2) The large per cent of under age pupils in the eighth, 
ninth, and tenth grades. The first grade has more than 
twice as many pupils as the second grade. Indeed, 27 per 
cent, almost one-third, of the 3401 pupils accounted for in 
this age-grade report are in the first grade. Table No. Ill 
shows that many of the pupils in the first grade are over 
age. Some of them, it appears, have possibly been in the 



38 University of Texas Bulletin 

first grade for three or four years. There are several rea- 
sons for the unfortunate condition into which the first grade 
has fallen: (1) Children of foreign descent who have diffi- 
culty with the English language ; (2) during muddy weather 
the small children attend school less regularly than the 
larger ones; (3) the need foi? more teachers in some of the 
overcrowded schools. In a crowded school, needing an ad- 
ditional teacher or two, the beginning pupils are at a 
greater disadvantage than the pupils in the grades above. 
The beginning pupils are among the ones most in need of 
special personal help from the teacher. The teacher can 
not give these pupils all of the special personal attention 
they need when her room is filled with forty or more chil- 
dren scattered through three or four grades. No other one 
thing could contribute more to the relief of the retarded 
condition of the first grade in the rural schools in William- 
son County than the employment of more teachers in some 
of the overcrowded schools. 

Table No. IV shows that out of the 3401 pupils only 55 
have survived to the ninth grade and 26 to the tenth grade. 
It is interesting to notice in column two of this table that 
there is an increase in the percentage of under age students 
in the ninth and tenth grades. Some of these students have 
made advances, gained a grade or two, and moved on ahead 
of their classes, as it were. They have done this in spite of 
the handicaps of short school terms, poor libraries, no^ labo- 
ratories, short class periods, and the other shortcomings so 
characteristic of rural schools. Most of the under age stu- 
dents found in the upper high school grades of these rural 
schools are, in all probability, unusual students. They are 
the so-called "bright" boys and girls. They may represent 
one per cent or so of the student body. 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 

There were 93 per cent of the reporting teachers who 
said that their daily programs of study were based upon 
the state course of study. Seven per cent failed to answer. 
Just how effectively the state course of study was being 

TABLE NO. V 

NUMBER OF PUPILS STUDYING EACH OF THE SUBJECTS 

INCLUDED IN THE COURSE OF STUDY OF THE RURAL 

SCHOOLS OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY 



Elementary Grades 

Reading 4,044 

Spelling 3,869 

Writing 3,798 

Arithmetic 3,763 

Language lessons 2,218 

Descriptive Geography . . 2,109 

English Grammar 869 

Physiology and Hygiene. 1,344 

U. S. History 534 

Texas History 441 

Nature Study 429 

Civil Government 294 

Manual Training 33 

Agriculture 276 



High School Grades 

Algebra 259 

American History 75 

Ancient and Medieval His. 155 

English Composition. . . . 319 

Physical Geography .... 139 

Spanish 83 

Latin 39 

Public Speaking 44 

American Literature .... 27 

English Literature 18 

Modern History 35 

Physics 8 



adapted to local needs and conditions, the author of this 
survey would not venture to say. The many heavy rains 
and the impassable condition of many of the country roads 
at the time this study was conducted made it impossible 
to observe in a satisfactory manner the nature and char- 
acter of the instruction being given in all of the rural 
schools of the county. 

Table No J V shows the subjects of study and the number 
of pupils studying each subject in the rural schools of Wil- 
liamson County during the school year of 1921-22. This 
table is based upon the county superintendent's annual re- 
port accounting for the 4,738 white children enrolled in the 



40 University of Texas Bulletin 

rural schools during the year. Of the 4,738 children en- 
rolled, 322 were in the high school grades and 4,416 in the 
elementary grades. There were 4,044 children, or 85.3 per 
cent of the total number enrolled, studying reading; 81.2 per 
cent studying spelling; 80 per cent studying writing; and 
79.4 per cent studying arithmetic. Since the great bulk of 
the pupils are studying the subjects of the elementary 
grades, it emphasizes the importance of a corps of well 
trained elementary teachers for the rural schools. The 
small number of students pursuing each of the high school 
subjects indicates that high schools are not yet well devel- 
oped in the rural districts. 



HYGIENE AND SANITATION 

There were 19 per cent of the teachers reporting who 
stated that they had had their pupils examined this year 
by competent physicians for such ailments as decayed teeth, 
diseased tonsils, adenoids, defective eyesight, and defective 
hearing. This is a good beginning. The work of health 
inspection and supervision should be continued and extended 
to all the schools of the^ county. Some of the counties of 
Texas have public health nurses who put in most of their 
time making physical examinations and otherwise caring 
for the health of school children. It would be a good thing 
if Williamson County had a public health nurse working 
full time among the rural schools. There are many parents, 
no doubt, who wonder why this child or that child does so 
poorly in its school subjects when the real cause is nothing 
other than a decayed tooth, a diseased tonsil, adenoids, or 
some other simple ailment that could be easily discovered 
and corrected by a competent health supervisor. Contrary 
to populai* belief, experience has shown that country chil- 
dren are less healthy than city children. 

Most of the schoolrooms inspected during the course of 
this survey showed exceptionally good housekeeping. This 
is, in all probability, due to the fact that 93; per cent of the 
teachers did their own janitor work. It was especially in- 
teresting to note that the character of the housekeeping in 
the new modern buildings was better than in the old anti- 
quated shacks. In the modern buildings the floors, base- 
boards and wainscoting, the chalk rails, and the window 
panes were usually clean, and, in general, schoolrooms were 
neat and tidy. Some of the old run-down buildings were 
in a deplorable state of repair and there is little to inspire 
good housekeeping or any other form of community pride. 
Reports indicate that less than 10 per cent of the schools 
were adequately supplied with towels, lavatories, and wash 
basins. Approximately 20 per cent of the toilets were 
fly-proof and sanitary. Thirty-four of the 79 schools re- 
ported that their drinking water came from wells, 10 from 



42 University of Texas Bulletin 

cisterns, 5 from springs, and 26 failed to reply. Some of 
the school wells were open at the top, and the water was 
obtained by rope and bucket. This is a thoroughly un- 
sanitary method of procuring water. In approximately 50 
per cent of the schools the drinking water was distributed 
in an approved manner by means of sanitary drinking 
fountains and hydrants and individual drinking cups. There 
were 22 schools using common water buckets with individual 
drinking cups and 7 using common buckets and common 
cups. 

The health inspection of school children, the installation 
of fly-proof sanitary school toilets, the equipping of all the 
open wells and cisterns with pumps, the providing of towels, 
wash basins and lavatories, and of better means for distrib- 
uting the drinking water constitute a small list of sugges- 
tions whereby the health of a great many school children 
might be more securely protected. These are questions that 
should call for thought and action from the parent-teacher 
associations. 



GROUNDS, BUILDINGS, AND EQUIPMENT 

The amount of land owned by each school varied from 
one-half acre to 10 acres, the median amount being 2.1 acres 
per school. On the playgrounds of the 79 rural schools of 
the county there are 2 tennis courts, 30 basketball courts, 
39 baseball courts, 11 swings, 5 horizontal bars, 33 flag 
poles, and 6 sand piles. The grounds of nineteen of the 
schools are neatly fenced, thirty-five have shade trees, and 
seven have places for eating lunches. Seven of the schools 
have walks mad eof brick, stone, or cement and the rest of 
the schools, have no walks at all. 

Thirty-eight per cent of the school buildings have one 
classroom each ; 48 per cent two classrooms each ; and the 
remaining 14 per cent have from three to seven classrooms 
each. Six of the buildings have auditoriums and 15 have 
folding doors opening two or more classrooms together for 
auditorium purposes. According to the reports from the 
principals of the schools, five of the school auditoriums are 
lighted with gas, two with electricity, three with gasoline 
lamps, and five with kerosene lamps. These reports indi- 
cate that a majority of the school buildings have no means 
at all for artificial lighting. The windows are grouped for 
unilateral lighting in 71 per cent of the schools and 70 per 
cent have adjustable window shades, 44 per cent of which 
are adjustable from the top. 

Forty-two per cent of the schools were seated with single 
desks of more than one size arranged so that all of the 
desks in each row were of the! same size. Thirty-four 
schools reported that they had no pupils improperly seated ; 
two reported 50 per cent improperly seated ; twenty reported 
"a few" ; and four reported that all of the pupils were im- 
properly seated. The four schools reporting 100 per cent 
of the pupils improperly seated are: Prairie Lea, Tyler, 
Sandoval, and Polanka. Throughout the rural schools of 
the county there were 544 or 11.4 per cent of the 4738 white 



44 University of Texas Bulletin 

pupils enrolled that were uncomfortably and improperly 
seated. 

There were 82 per cent of the schools equipped with desks 
and chairs for the teachers and 18 per cent not having such 
equipment. Other interior schoolroom equipment were as 
follows : adequate supply of wall maps, 78 per cent ; globes, 
60 per cent ; charts, 47 per cent ; twenty-five or more linear 
feet of slate or hyloplate blackboard per classroom, 53 per 
cent; cabinet for library books, 66 per cent. 

There were 27 schools that reported a total of 3383 books 
in their school libraries. The rest of the schools left this 
question unanswered, and it is presumed that they have no 
libraries at all. The number of books reported amounts to 
less than one book per child to be educated in the common 
schools of the county. This is a fact that should have the 
prompt and serious consideration of every teacher and 
school patron in the county. A first class system of rural 
schools must have better library facilities than those found 
in Williamson County. 

Only one school in the county reported any laboratory 
equipment at all. That is the Thrall school. The Thrau 
school is a Smith-Hughes vocational aid school and has $250 
worth of agricultural laboratory equipment. 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

As to Teachers. Forty-two per cent of the teachers are 
the holders of second grade certificates ; 28.3 per cent of the 
teachers had had less than one year of teaching experience ; 
and 64.4 per cent were teaching their first year in their 
present positions. Would it not be better, on the average, 
to employ fewer teachers with second-grade certificates? 
Also, would it not be better for the schools if the teachers 
did not move about from place to place so much? When a 
community procures the services of a good and capable 
teacher it should retain that teacher for as many years as 
possible. 

As to the Health of the Pupils. Supervision and in- 
spection of the health of the pupils should be systematically 
and uniformly extended to all of the rural schools of the 
county. There is little doubt that there are many pupils 
falling behind in their school work because of adenoids, 
decayed teeth, bad tonsils, defective eyes, and other physical 
ailments that could be easily detected and corrected by a 
competent public health nurse. The women's clubs in the 
towns and rural centers would render a valuable social 
service if they would devise ways and means whereby a 
capable public health nurse could be employed for all the 
schools of the county. 

As to the Lower Grades of the Elementary Schools. 
There are more than twice as many pupils in the first grade 
as there are in the second grade. Some of these pupils have 
been in the first grade two or three years. In some schools 
the lower elementary grades are badly crowded. The teach- 
ers are overworked and some of the children are suffering 
from neglect. In several instances this condition could be 
greatly relieved by the employment of an additional teacher. 

As to Supervision of Instruction. The clerical and ad- 
ministrative duties of the office of county superintendent 
are so numerous that it is impossible for the county super- 
intendent to do justice to the work of supervision of instruc- 
tion. This is as true in dozens of other Texas counties as it 



46 University of Texas Bulletin 

is in Williamson County. In a well-regulated system of 
city schools, capable supervisors of instruction for the pri- 
mary and elementary grades are regarded as among the 
most valuable of all the school employees. A capable su- 
pervisor of instruction for the elementary grades would be 
one of the very best investments that could be made for 
rural education in Williamson County. 

As to the Financial Support of the Rural Schools. The 
average rate for the school taxes among the rural dis- 
tricts of Williamson County is 29.2 cents. There are 13.4 
per cent of the common school districts that have no school 
taxes at all. Of the 59 districts that have voted local school 
taxes 34 have rates of less than 50 cents. The rural 
schools of this county can never come into their own until 
they are given more liberal financial support. 

As to Consolidation. There are many small rural schools 
in Williamson County. Facts and figures presented else- 
where in this bulletin show that, on the average, the poorest 
school attendance is in the small schools of one and two 
teachers ; and that there are some small school districts con- 
taining so little wealth that they can never hope to maintain 
schools meeting standard requirements as to equipment, 
teachers, and length of school term. Would it not be well 
for some of the small districts to unite with each othei^ and 
with larger neighboring districts for greater things in edu- 
cation ? 

As to School Buildings. All new school buildings should 
be constructed in compliance with the latest and most ap- 
proved standards of schoolhouse architecture. The light- 
ing, ventilation, arrangement of seats, blackboards, etc., 
should be scientifically correct. The new two-room school- 
house at Union Chapel does not meet these requirements. 
It is built after the idea of the old-time "shoe box" type of 
schoolhouse. For that reason the Union Chapel school is 
barred from legitimate participation in the special state 
aid for rural schools. In the construction of new school- 
houses it is well for the school trustees to see that they are 
architecturally modern and correct in every respect. 



APPENDIX 

The following forms were used in securing information regarding 
the schools of the County. In addition, data were secured from the 
office of the county superintendent, the ofiice of the county tax As- 
sessor and the federal census for 1920. Personal visitation by a 
representative of the Bureau of Extension was made to practically 
all of the schools in the County. 

QUESTIONNAIRE TO SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 

Educational Survey of the Rural Schools of County 

Please fill in the information called for by these questionnaires and 
Teturn to the County Superintendent's office as promptly as possible. 
In doing so you will be rendering a valuable service for the betterment 
of the rural and village schools of this county. Will you please give 
this matter your prompt attention? 



County Superintendent of Schools. 

Name of school Number of district 

:N'ame of principal Postoffice 



COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS 

1. How many teachers in your school? 

2. How many children of free-school age were enumerated for 
your school district by the last scholastic census? 

3. How many have actually been enrolled in school this year? 

4. How many families do the children come from? 

5. A social center is a place where people meet for recreation or 
merely to' pass the time away. The place of meeting may be a club, 
a barbershop, drugstore, postoffice, or some other place. Name the 
congregating places of your community in the order of their popularity 



6. What per cent of the young people of your community go to 
town for their recreation? Why? 

7. What per cent of your students above fifteen years of age 

intend to remain in the country and on the farm to live? 

Why? 

What per cent intend to go to the cities and towns to live? 

Why? 

8. Do you have organized athletics in your school? 

Basketball? Baseball? Tennis? 

Other athletic sports? 

9. Does your community have any of the following activities for 

social and cultural betterment: Choral club? Male or 

mixed quartette? Orchestra? Literary society? 



48 University of Texas Bulletin 

Reading circle? Story-tellers' league? 

Victrola concerts? Other activities? 

10. Check the following conveniences for public meetings at your 

schoolhouse: Auditorium? Classrooms with folding or slid- 

ing doors? Movable seats? Victrola? 

Piano? Stereopticon? Motion picture machine? 

Other conveniences? 

11. How many churches in your community? How many 

church services per month? What per cent of the people 

attend? How many church societies such as Epworth 

League, etc.? How often do they meet? 

How many Sunday-school services per month? 

12. Does your community have any of the following business or- 
ganizations: Farm bureau? Breeders' association? 

Farmers' union? Sweet potato curing plant? 

Other farm or business organizations? 

13. Do you co-operate with Farm and Home Demonstration 

Agents? Does your school have the services of a county 

health nurse? 

14. Have you an organized Parent-Teacher Association? 

Is it active? If not, why not? 

15. Has your school held a community fair? Has it 

taken any interest in the county fair? ^ 



GROUNDS, BUILDINGS, AND EQUIPMENT 
A, Grounds: 

1. Playground: Area in acres? Neatly fenced? 

Fence in good repair? Shade trees? Places for 

eating lunches? Provisions for play: Tennis courts? 

Basketball court? Baseball diamond? 

Swings? Horizontal bars? Flag pole? . — 

Sand pile? Other play equipment? 

Drainage: Good? Fair? Poor? 

Walks: Material? When built? 

2. Out Houses: Boys' and girls' toilets at least 50 yards apart? 

Fly-proof and sanitary? How often cleaned? 

Marked and defaced? Shed for driving-stock 

used by pupils coming to school? 

3. Water Supply: Well? ____Cistem? Spring? 

Pump in well? Method of distributing water: 

Bubbling fountains? Fountains in good working order? 

Hydrants and individual cups? Individual cups 

and common bucket? Common cups and common bucket? 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 49 



B Buildings : 

1. Material: Brick?, Stone? Stucco? 

Wood ? Number of rooms ? 

2. Condition: Good? Fair? Poor? 

When last painted? 

Window panes missing? Clean? 

Number of classrooms? Halls? 

Storeroom? Condition? 

Auditorium: Size? Folding doors opening 

classrooms together ? How seated ? 

How lighted? Piano? 

3. Heating: Unjacketed stove? Jacketed stove? 

Jacketed stove properly installed and in perfect working condition? 
Stove polished? No disfiguring marks? 

4. Lighting: Windows properly grouped and seats arranged so 

light does not come directly into pupils' eyes? 

Window space equal to one-sixth of floor space? No cross 

lighting? Adjustable, window shades? From top 

5. Ventilation: Jacketed stove with outside air intake? 

Ventilation by windows and doors only? 

6. Cleanliness and General Order: Clean floors? 

Sweeping compound? Floors oiled? Scrubbed 

how often? Swept how often? , 

When? By whom? 

Rough and splintery? Clean walls and clean furniture? 

Dustless chalk? Oiled dust cloth? 

Erasers and chalk-rail clean? Lavatory? 

Liquid soap in glass bulb? Wash basin? 

Individual towels? Mirror? Clean sanitary 

shelves for lunch baskets? Equipment for serving hot 

lunches? Scales, charts, and other necessary equipment for 

weighing and measuring children? Shoe scrapers or mats 

at door? 

7. Interior Decorations : Pleasing interior? Clean paper 

on walls or wallsi properly tinted? _ Pictures? 

Pot plants or window boxes? 

C. Equipment: 

1. General: Single desks of three sizes and all desks in each row 

of the same size? Adjustable? How often adjusted? 

Number of pupils improperly seated? 

Teacher's desk and chair? Desk? Neatly kept? 

Maps? Globe? Charts? 

Twenty-five linear feet of slate or hyloplate blackboard with chalk 

rail in each room? .: Proper distance from floor 

to s,uit pupils? 



50 



University of Texas Bulletin 



2. Library: Cabinet for books? Number of books in 

library? Are they read? By pupils? 

By patrons? Adaptation of books for use in school? 

Number of books read last year? Value of books? 

Percentage of useless books? Condition of books: Good? 

Fair? Poor? Collection of bulletins? 

Well filed? Dictionary? 

3. Laboratories : Case for keeping apparatus? 

Value of apparatus for physics? Agriculture? 

Physiology? Chemistry? Physical geography? 

Domestic science? Manual training? What per 

cent purchased from agents? Is apparatus well adapted to 

work in general science? What per cent of apparatus has 

been improvised by teacher and pupils? Thermometer? 

Good clock? Textbooks well cared for? Victrola 

and records? Good condition? 

AGES, GRADES, AND SEXES OF PUPILS 
(For all children in school) 
(Please fill out and return to County Superintendent the same day 
this sheet is received) 

Principal of school Postoffice 

Name of school County 



Cia.Aa. 




.„ 


ToUls 




* 


6 


6 


-■ 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16, 


17 


18 


19 


20 


21 
and 


J 


Boys 
GirlE 
















































































^ 


Boys 
Girls 

















































-3 


Boys 
Girls 
















































































^ 


Boys 
Girls 











































Boys 
Girls 








































( 


Boys 
Girls 
































































7 


Boys 
Girls 










































Boys 
Girls 


























































S 


Boys 
Girls 









































10 


Boys 

Girls 
















































































n 


Boys 
Girl 















--- 

















--•■• 










12 


Boy. 
Girl 









































Total 


Boy 
Girl 













































A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 51 

Number of boys who entered school for the first time this year: 

Five years old? Six? Seven? Eight? 

Nine? 

Number of girls who entered school for the first time this year: 

Five years old? Six? Seven? Eight? 

Nine? 

Instructions : Starting at the top of the table, after you have found 
out the ages of all the boys in the first grade, put the proper numbers 
in the blocks along the horizontal line marked "Boys." For instance, 
if there are two boys five years old, put the figure 2 in the block 
directly under 5. If there are four boys six years of age in the first 
grade, put the figure 4 directly under 6, and so on. Do the same 
thing for the girls. 

Please put the correct totals, both at the bottom and to the right, 
and see that they balance. 

OBSERVATIONS OF SURVEYOR 

1. General orderliriess and neatness of room: Floors? 

Pupils' desks? Teacher's desk? Blackboards? 

Cloakrooms? Adjustment of window shades? 

Condition of stove? 

2. Heating and ventilation: Impression as to temperature of 

room? Air fresh and cool, or stuffy and hot? 

How is ventilation effected? 

3. General appearance of teacher: Neat and orderly? 

Careless and slovenly? 

4. Pupils: General bearing? Neat? 

Slovenly and unclean? Per cent giving attention effectively 

to business? Attitude towards teacher and school? 

Attitude towards visitors? 

5. Class Work: Number of classes per day? Was teacher 

skillful in getting work out of pupils? Were the recitations 

bookish and formal or did they exhibiti initiative and independence of 

thought? Evidence of teacher's preparation for the 

lesson? Evidence of use of library books or other 

outside reading material? ____Questions confined to textbook? 

Did teacher show evidence of wide reading and rich 

experience? Were examples and illustrations taken 

from the daily life and experiences of thci pupils? 

Does teacher live in the community? Spend week-ends in 

community? Leader in community affairs? 

QUESTIONNAIRE CALLING FOR INFORMATION FROM 
TRUSTEES 

Educational Survey of the Rural Schools of County. 

Please fill in the information called for by these questions, and 



52 University of Texas Bulletin 

return to the County Superintendent's office as promptly as possible. 
In doing so you will be rendering a valuable service for the betterment 
of the rural and village schools of this county. Will you please give 
this matter your prompt attention? 



County Superintendent of Schools. 

Name of school 

Name of trustee Postoffice 

1. How many years have you resided in the district? 

2. How many years have you served as school trustee? 

3. How long have you served as trustee of this school? 

4. Were you appointed by the county superintendent, or were 
you duly elected at the last regular election for school trustees? 

5. Do you require the teachers to give you an inventory of the 
school property, library books, globes, charts, etc., at the end of each 
school year? 

6. Do you always ask the advice of the county superintendent 
before making school improvements or purchasing school supplies? 

7. Do you ever purchase school supplies from agents without 
first consulting the county superintendent as to prices, quality, etc.? 

8. Do you confer with the county superintendent before employ- 
ing a new teacher? 

9. If in need of a new teacher, how do you go about finding one? 

10. Does your school offer instruction in the high-school subects? 

If not, what provision is made for high-school advantages 

for the children of your district? 

11. Has school consolidation been considered in your district? 

If so, what was, the outcome of it? 

12. Name in the order of their importance, as you see them, three 
of the greatest needs of your school: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) . 

QUESTIONNAIRE CALLING FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION 
FROM TEACHERS 

Educational Survey of the Rural Schools of County 

Please fill in the information called for by these questionnaires and 
return to the County Superintendent's office as promptly as possible. 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamsoii County 53 

In doing so you will be rendering a valuable service for the betterment 
of the rural and village schools of this county. Will you please give 
this matter your prompt attention? 



County Superintendent of Schools. 

Name of school 

Name of teacher Postoffice 



TEACHERS 

Biographical Facts: 

1. Sex Date of birth Place of birth 

2. Were you brought up in city, village, or open country? 

3. Occupation of your father (or guardian) during your school 
days 

4. Are you married or single? 

Economic Status: 

1. Give your present monthly salary for teaching? 

2. For how many months in the year are you employed? 

3. How did you spend the major portion of your last summer 
vacation? 

4. State the approximate amount of money earned outside of your 
teaching salary the past year? 

5. Total amount saved or invested during the year? 

6. Number of persons entirely dependent upon you for support? 

7. Number of persons partially dependent upon you for support? 

Social and Living Conditions : 

1. Do you live with your parents while teaching? 

2. Do you board? Live in teacher's home? 

Or maintain an independent household? 

3. Approximate average living expenses per month (including 
board, room, laundry, transportation, etc.)? 

4. How far is your boarding place from school? 

5. Have you a room to yourself at your boarding place? 

6. Is your room heated in winter? 

7. Are you free to entertain callers or guests in the family living 
room or parlor? 

8. What facilities have you for getting to town to shop, etc.? 

V 

9. To what extent do you stay at your boarding place over the 
week-ends? 

Education and Professional Preparation: 



54 University of Texas Bulletin 

1. How many years did you attend the elementary schools? 

2. How many years did you attend high school? 

3. How many years did you attend normal school? 

4. How many years did you attend college? 

5. Are you a graduate of a high school? 

6. Are you a graduate of a normal school? 

7. Do you hold a university degree? 

From where? 

8. What grade of teacher's certificate do you hold? 

9. Have you ever taken any special courses in rural-school man- 
agement, rural sociology, or other subjects designed to prepare you 
specially for country school teaching? 

10. Name the teachers' magazines or educational journals you are 
reading this year 

11. Name the professional books you have read the past year? 

12. What, in your judgment, could the normal school in which you 
studied have done in its training to better prepare you for your 

present work? 

Teaching Experience : 

1. At what age did you begin teaching? 

2. How many years have you taught in all? 

3. How long have you taught in your present position? _ 

4. Give number of years you have taught in each of the following 

positions: One-teacher rural school? Two-teacher rural 

school? Graded village or city school? 

High school? Village principal? Village or 

city superintendent? Other educational experience 

School Management and Organization: 

1. Do you do your own janitor work? If not, how is it 

provided for? Salary of janitor? 

2. How often is your schoolroom swept? 

Scrubbed? Desks scrubbed? 

3. Is it your practice to be with your pupils on the playground 

at recess andl at noon intermission? To what extent do 

you join in the sports and games? 

4. How often do you have meetings with teachers and trustees? 



COURSE OF STUDY 

(Teachers in the elementary grades fill in data for the elementary 
grades only. Teachers of the high-school grades fill in data for the 
high-school subjects only.) 

Have you a daily program of study? 



A Study of Rural Schools in Williamson County 55 

Is it based upon the State Course of Study? 

1. EleTnentary Grades: How many pupils in the elementary 

grades studying each of the following subjects: Reading 

Writing? ^Arithmetic? Spelling? 

English grammar? Oral and written English composition? 

Texas History? U. S. History? 

Civics? Physiology and hygiene? Physical geog- 
raphy? Descriptive geography? Nature study? 

General Science? Agriculture? Other subjects: 



2. The High-School Grades: How many students in the high- 
school grades are studying each of the following subjects: Algebra? 

Plane geometry? American history? 

Civics and Government? English history? Other 

history courses? English composition and rhetoric? 

Latin? Foreign languages? Physics? 

Chemistry? - Agriculture? Farm accounting? 

Animal husbandry? Domestic science and art? 

Other subjects? 



Total number of hours per week devoted to the teaching of high- 
school subjects by all the teachers in your school? 

Total number hours per week devoted to the teaching of the ele- 
mentary subjects by all the teachers in your school? 



THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 
Bureau of Extension 

1. Rural School Service. Lectures and rural school specialists 
are available for county school surveys, for lectures on school im- 
provement, £jid for general assistance in directing and organizing 
community meetings. 

2. Tha Division of Extension Teaching. Courses equivalent to 
those offered in residence at the University are taught by mail, by 
members of the University faculty. Extension classes are offered in 
those centers in the State where there is a demand for them. Group 
Study Courses are available for study clubs. 

3. The Division of Home Economics. Conferences and clinics 
are held relative to the health and nutrition of children of pre-school 
age, as well as for children of school age. Budget making and 
budgetary spending are taught to groups where such service is de- 
sired. 

4. Division of Government Research. Information relative to 
the problems of municipal, county, state, and national government 
may be had from this division. 

5. The Division of Package Loan Library. This division collects 
material on all important present-day subjects and loans it, free of 
charge, to schools, women's clubs, libraries, community and civic 
organizations, and individuals. When demand for them arises, 
special libraries are often made up on subjects on which libraries are 
not already prepared. 

6. The Photographic Laboratory. ..This laboratory is prepared 
to make lantern slides, produce negatives, and do technical pho- 
tography. The laboratory is also prepared to make motion picture 
films. 

7. The Division of Trades and Industries. Courses in trade, 
analysis, lesson planning, methods of teaching, practical teaching, 
related subject work, and history of industrial education are given 
in industrial centers, by members of the division working in co- 
operation with the State Board for Vocational Education. 

8. ^ The Division of Visual Instruction. Lantern slide sets are 
distributed for educational and recreational purposes. Motion pic- 
ture films are distributed through the division, and information rel- 
ative to Extension service has been prepared and will be mailed free 
upon application. 

9. The University Interscholastic League. Educational contests 
are promoted among the public schools of Texas in public speaking, 
essay-writing, and spelling. It is the purpose of the League also to 
assist in organizing, standardizing and controlling athletics. A bul- 
letin for use in the spelling contests is iseupd, also one briefing the 
subject for debate and giving selected arguments, one giving sixty 
prose declamations, and one containing the Constitution and Rules 
including a thorough description of all the contests undertaken. 

"THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION CAMPUS IS THE 
STATE OF TEXAS." 

AddresH general inquiries to T. H. SHELBY,' Director, 

Bureau of Extension, 

University of Texas, 



